We have created a rating badge for the beaches of the Seychelles.
We rate four different aspects of each beach, but we have refrained from presenting an overall rating. It would not be fair to create an average of these four characteristics because for example, Anse Cocos on La Digue is rather difficult to access and not the best for swimming. But overall it is one of the best beaches in the world. Would we have created an overall rating, it would rank 28th.
However, we think that these four characteristics are very important to know before you decide which beach you want to visit. Are you looking for the most beautiful ones, or do you want to go swimming? Are you handicapped and can´t access every beach easily, or are you the type of traveller who wants to have a beach all to yourself?
Here are some thoughts that went into our rating.
The Beauty of a BeachThe beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Being photographers and filmmakers the beauty of a beach is one of the most important characteristics that help us choose our travel destinations. The beauty of a beach can change though. It can be affected by season, tide, seagrass on the beach, sunchairs, parasols and the number of people that populate a beach. However, we decided to give the last characteristic an extra rating.
A rating of 10 means that we think this beach is not only one of the most beautiful beaches on the Seychelles, but in the world.
Here are two examples: In our opinion, Grand Anse on La Digue is one of the most beautiful beaches in Seychelles and deserves a clear 10, while Anse Boileau is only a 4. Remember that even Anse Boileau would probably be an 8 or even 9 in almost any other country in the world.
The Suitability for Swimming and Bathing in the WaterMost of the Seychelles beaches are not the perfect choice for swimming and bathing, compared to other places (like the Maldives). Some have high currents or waves, others are very shallow at low tide and again others are hard to get into the water because of rocks or coral.
We have been rather conservative with this rating because the suitability for swimming changes with the season, the weather, waves, currents, coral, etc.. And even on beaches that seem perfect for swimming like the Anse Lazio, the Seychelles are known for sudden high waves to watch out for. Snorkelling on the shoreline of Anse Lazio will tell you how true that is because you find lots of sunglasses, diving goggles, etc. people lost on their way out of the water.
We too had to find a rating for beaches that are very, very long. So we chose the best part of the beach for the rating.
The highest rating means that this beach is very well suited for swimming.
In our example Beau Vallon Beach on Mahé deserves a clear 10, it even has some watersport activities, while Grand l´Anse on La Digue gets a 2 because it is close to impossible to get into the water due to rocks and high waves.
The Accessibility of the Beach Many beaches on the Seychelles are very easy to access. Some are right on the coast road (that is on some beaches disturbing, and not on others). For other beaches, you have to take a bike ride, hike for hours, or even climb along rocks. Again others are only accessible by boat. Some of these again are visited often by tours. For others, you will have to search for a boat that brings you there.
One important note on accessibility: some beaches are right in front of a hotel so easy to access for hotel guests, but not so for others. In these cases, we rated the access for people who not stay in that particular hotel.
The highest rating means the beach is easy to access.
The best example for a high rating is Anse Takamaka on Mahé. It is right along the coast road (though this will never disturb you because here is very little traffic in the south). A rather low rating for accessibility goes to Anse Marron on La Digue. It takes at least an hour of climbing, walking and wading through water to get there from the next road.
The Solitude of each Beach Are you like us and love solitude on beaches? While we are all tourists and have to keep that in mind, there are beaches that are more crowded and others where there is a high probability that you are alone. In general Seychelles beaches are way less populated than those of almost all other countries.
The highest rating means that very few people ever find the way to that particular beach.
Our two examples for this rating are: Anse Caiman on La Digue for a high rating and Anse Source d´Argent for the lowest rating - again, keep in mind. People who visit Anse Source d´Argent before any other beach on Seychelles are surprised that there are so few tourists on the beach, but once you get that Seychelles Beach Feeling... ;).